Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.49
Liaison Cody Friend
Submission Date Feb. 13, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Nebraska at Omaha
AC-10: Support for Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 4.00 Sarah Burke
Sustainability Coordinator
Student Affairs
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Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability? :
No

A brief description of the student research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
While we don't currently have a program specifically focused on students conducting research in sustainability; we do have funds available that students have used in the past for sustainability research. Fund for Undergraduate Scholarly Experiences (FUSE) Grant supports faculty-mentored undergraduate student research and creative activity. While not specifically geared towards sustainability, students have applied for this grant to do sustainability research. The grant is up to $4,500 per student and only available to UNO undergraduates. Graduate Research and Creative Activity (GRACA) Grant supports faculty-mentored graduate student research and creative activity. While not specifically geared towards sustainability, students have applied for this grant to do sustainability research. The grant is up to $5,000 per student and is only available to UNO graduate students.

Does the institution have a program to encourage faculty from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability topics?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
The Center for Urban Sustainability financially supports research conducted by faculty fellows. An example study includes an analysis of UNO sustainable transportation. http://www.unomaha.edu/sustainability/center-for-urban-sustainability/_docs/UNO-transportation-study.pdf

Has the institution published written policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s support for interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
Communities of Practice (CoPs) continue to serve as a mechanism to provide recognition for interdisciplinary collaboration. Identified outcomes named by CoPs include conference presentations, papers, community projects, and new courses among other collaborative research activities. For FY 2015-2016, 25 CoP groups were established. http://www.unomaha.edu/faculty-support/campus-connections/cop.php The Center for Collaborative Science develops, validates, and publishes scientific foundations for collaboration-related phenomena and helps organizations apply these findings to make performance differences that matter. http://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-business-administration/center-for-collaboration-science/ Digital Commons @ UNO is the university’s institutional repository for collecting, preserving, and making visible the intellectual output of the university, particularly those research artifacts created through collaborative initiatives. Hosted by UNO’s Criss Library, materials in the repository include working papers, copies of published articles and conference papers. In addition, presentations, senior theses, and other works may be found here. Access to materials in Digital Commons is free. http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/ FY 2015-2016 CoP groups documented measurable outcomes such as published research, conference presentations, and other evidence to be eligible for stipends. The list of CoP groups and their outcomes are available on the CFE Web site: http://www.unomaha.edu/faculty-support/campus-connections/cop-groups.pdf

Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
The UNO Criss Library has thousands of books, media, journals, and other resources in its collection focused on sustainability to support students, faculty, and staff sustainability research. Librarians offer one-on-one research support. We also recently added a monograph budget line for Environmental Studies to support the collection. http://libguides.unomaha.edu/sustainability

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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